Method of weaving a pile fabric



Aug. 23, 1955 Filed June 14, 1951 H. J. SMILEY 2,715,917

METHOD OF WEAVING A PILE FABRIC 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 23, 1955 H. J. SMILEYMETHOD OF WEAVING A PILE FABRIC 6 SheetsSheet 2 MCI, 111.

Filed June 14, 1951 @MaQii'Er 5 WW H. J. SMILEY 2,715,917

METHOD OF WEAVING A PILE FABRIC 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Aug. 23, 1955 FiledJune 14, 1951 II III! we m:

Aug. 23, 1955 H. J. SMILEY 2,715,917

METHOD OF WEAVING A PILE FABRIC Filed June 14, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 vi/go g- 23, 1955 H. J. SMILEY 2,?15,9l7

METHOD OF WEAVING A PILE FABRIC Filed June 14, 1951 6 SheetsSheet 5 LICKT7. 40 40 a gel 42 42 g- 23, 1955 H. J. SMILEY 2,715,917

METHOD OF WEAVING A FILE FABRIC Filed June 14, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 645 LICIQQLQ United States Patent METHUD 0F WEAVING A PILE FABRIC HarryJ. Smiley, Glasgow, Va., assignor to James Lees & Sons Company,Bridgeport, P2,, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 14,1951, Serial No. 231,455

4 Claims. (Cl. 139-39) This invention relates to looped pile fabricshaving a novel appearance imparted by means of specially arranged setsof serrated pile wires.

I have found that novel and unexpected pattern effects can be achievedin a looped pile fabric when two pile yarns in the same dent which passunder alternate upper weft shots, and preferably of different colors,are woven over serrated or undulating pile wires in which the wires areof difierent heights and in which the warpwise relation of the crestsand troughs on the wires is arranged in accordance with a predeterminedpattern.

Preferably, I employ four wires of different heights consecutivelyarranged together with four similar Wires arranged in the same order asthe first. With a set of these eight wires, very startling results canbe achieved simply by re-arranging the wires in the set in various pairsor sequences.

Due to the fact that each pile yarn is only woven over alternate wires,and also due to the fact that the pile yarns can be of contrastingcolors, it is possible to provide a carpet which is of one color whenviewed in one direction and which is of another color when viewed in theopposite direction, or in which the two colors may predominate in anydesired degree. Furthermore, without any physical alteration in thewires themselves, it is possible to provide one effect in one area ofthe carpet and a different effect in another area.

A primary object of the invention therefore, is to provide a looped pilefabric characterized by transverse rows of loops of different height inwhich the loops pass under alternate weft shots so that they overlapweftwise of the fabric.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a looped pile fabrican undulating pattern characterized by a series of graduated high andlow loops in the same transverse row and overlapped graduated high andlow loops in adjacent rows, each row of loops being of contrastingcolor.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a looped pile fabricadjacent rows of overlapped pile loops characterterized by graduatedhigh and low loops in the same row. The high loops in each row have adiamond shape when viewed from above, which is enhanced by correspondinglower loops on the two adjacent transverse rows at the area in alignmentwith the higher loops.

A further object is to provide in a looped pile fabric a wavy appearancewhen viewed from above, that is characterized by transverse rows ofoverlapped loops of different height and contrasting color.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings inwhich:

Fig. 1 shows a set of four wires used to weave the fabric of theinvention;

Figs. 2-10 are schematic sections as would occur at the line AA of Fig.1, showing the successive pulling of a set of eight wires using a fourwire repeat;

Fig. 11 is a schematic face view of a carpet woven in accordance withFigs. 2-10;

Patented Aug. 23, 1955 ice Fig. 12 is a transverse section as seen at1212 of Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a sectional detail on the line 1313 of Figs. 11 and 12;

Fig. 14 is a sectional detail as seen at 14-14 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 15 is a face view of the carpet of Fig. 11;

Fig. 16 is a perspective of the carpet shown in Fig. 15, as would beseen looking from the bottom;

Fig. 17 is a perspective of the carpet of Fig. 15, looking in theopposite direction;

Fig. 18 shows the four wires of Fig. 1 arranged in a different sequenceto provide a different pattern efiect;

Fig. 19 is a schematic section at 1919 of Fig. 18 with two pile warpswoven over the wires;

Fig. 20 shows the pile loops of Fig. 19 after the wires are withdrawn;

Fig. 21 is a schematic section at 2121 of Fig. 18 with two pile warpswoven over the wires;

Fig. 22 shows the loops of Fig. 21 after the wires are withdrawn;

Fig. 23 shows the same eight pile wires used in Figs. 2-10 and Figs.19-22 but with identical wires arranged in pairs rather than in a fourwire repeat;

Fig. 24 is a schematic section at 2424 of Fig. 23 with two pile warpswoven over the wires;

Fig. 25 shows the loops of Fig. 24 after the wires are withdrawn;

Fig. 26 shows the Wires of Fig. 23 re-arranged in a different sequence;

Fig. 27 is a schematic section at 2727 of Fig. 26 with two pile warpswoven over the wires;

Fig. 28 shows the loops of Fig. 27 after the wires are withdrawn;

Fig. 29 is a schematic section at 29-29 of Fig. 26 with two pile loopswoven over the wires;

Fig. 30 shows the loops of Fig. 29 after the wires are withdrawn;

Fig. 31 shows the wires illustrated in Figs. 23 and 26 arranged in astill difierent sequence;

Fig. 32 is a schematic section at 3232 of Fig. 31

with two pile loops woven over the wires;

Fig. 33 shows the loops of Fig. 31 after the wires are withdrawn;

Fig. 34 is a schematic section at 34-44 of Fig. 31 with two pile loopswoven over the Wires; and

Fig. 35 shows the loops of Fig. 34 after the wires are withdrawn.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of a set of preferablyeight pile wires, all of which have waves or serrations on the upperedge thereof. The waves are desirably in the shape of a sine curve butit will be understood that the crests and valleys of the wires may haveany suitable transverse spacing or height within the scope of theinvention. The four wires shown in Fig. 1 are actually one-half of acomplete set of eight wires but the second four are substantialduplicates. These eight wires may be arranged in several differentfour-wire repeats, in sequences having identical pairs and transposedpairs, etc. It will be understood that while I utilize a set of fourdifierent wires, this number is not critical and the total number in aset as well as the number of individual distinct wires, may be changedas desired. It is important however, that the pile warps be woven overonly alternate wires and it is desirable but not essential, that thecrests and troughs on each single wire be of uniform height. At leasttwo of the wires are preferably formed so that the crests on one wireare in alignment with the troughs on another.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows the fourdifferent forms of serrated or wavy wires which when repeated to form aset of eight wires, are used to weave the fabric of Figs. 15-17. In thisset, I use two high wires 40 and 41, the tops of which have undulationsproviding crests, C, C and troughs T, T. It will be observed however,that the displacement of the crests and the troughs forms a wave whichis out of phase by 180 with the wave formed by the undulations on wire40. Alternately arranged with wires 40 and 41 I use two lower wires 42and 43 having wavy upper surfaces so arranged that the crests andtroughs of wire 42 are in phase with those of wire 40 and the crests andtroughs of low wire 43 are in phasewith those of high wire 41.Furthermore, the relative heights of the'crests and troughs are suchthat the crests of high wires 40 and 41 form loops of the maximumheight. The crests .on wires 42 and 43 form medium high loops, thetroughs on wires 40 and 41 form medium lowloops, and the troughs onwires 42 and 43 form the lowest loops.

With the wires arranged as shown in Fig. 1, a cross section (as seen atA, A) clearly illustrates the relative height ofthe crests and troughson the wires as may be seen in Fig. 2. In this connection,.it will beunderstood that Figs. 2-10 show arepeat set of four wires so that thefour wires to theleft are those shown in Fig. 1 and the four wires tothe right, namely 40a, 42a, 41a and 43a are duplicates of wires 40-43.With eight wires comprising a set and arranged as shown in Fig. 2, theyare employed in the usual manner in the wire motion of a pile wire loom.In order to obtain full advantage of this wire set, I also employ twopile yarn ends 44, 45 in the same dent so that the warp pile yarns arewoven under alternate upper weft shots 46, 46 and likewise overalternate pile wires.

Fig. 3 shows the loops formed by warp yarns 44 and 45 after wire 40 hasbeen withdrawn. In this case, loop 47 remains unchanged in heightbecause it was woven over a crest of the wire 40. When wire 42 iswithdrawn (as shown in Fig. 4), loop 48 likewise is unchanged in heightbecause it too is woven over a crest in the wire 42. However, then wire41 is withdrawn (as shown in Fig. 5). The low loop 49 woven over thetrough in wire 41 is now raised to clear the crests in this wire. Thisraising of loop 49 simultaneously draws or pulls down loop 47 to providesufiicient yarn for the higher loop 49. When wire 43 is withdrawn, thelow loop 50 woven over the trough and wire 43 which is the lowest loopof all, is also raised as shown in Fig. 6, simultaneously drawing downloop 48 to the position shown therein, which is somewhat lower than thefinal height of loop 47.

The above sequence is repeated when the last four wires are withdrawn(as shown in Figs. 7-10) so that when wire 40a is withdrawn, loop 51remains at its original height. When wire 42a is withdrawn, loop 52likewise remains at its original height but when wire 41a is pulled,loop 53 is raised from a medium low (as shown in Fig. 8) to the high (asshown in Fig. 9) in order to clear the crest on wire 41a. Then when thelast wire 43a of the set is pulled, loop 54 is changed from a low loopto a medium high loop, to clear the crests on wire 43a.

A comparison of Figs. 2 and 10 shows that the final sequence of theheight of the loops at the section A, A is exactly the same as theoriginal sequence of the height of the loops when the wires are inplace. However, each loop has been displaced to the right a distanceequivalent to the space between two weft shots. This is explained ofcourse, by the fact that the drawing of any one wire does not affect theloops in the preceding transverse row but aifects only the loops tworows removed, because each pile yarn is woven only over every otherwire. Several rather interesting results are achieved in a fabric wovenaccording to the above-described method and with wires arranged as shownin Figs. 1l0. Figs. 1117 show clearly the results obtained in aconventional pile fabric or carpet having a plurality of upper weftshots 46, 46, lower weft shots 55, 55, stuffer warps 56, 56 between theweft shots, and double binder warps 56, 56, all

4 of which form the ground of the fabric. Figs. 11 and 12 illustratediagrammatically how the two pile warp yarns are arranged in each dent.

Looking warpwise of the fabric (Fig. 12) each transverse row of loopscomprises a series of high and low loops, the height of which correspondto the height of the crests and troughs in wires 40-43. These loops areevenly graduated in height and vary from the low loops 48 and 52 to thehighest loops 49 and 53.

Warpwise of the fabric, Fig. 13 shows the relationship of the highestand lowest loops at a point where the wires are directly out of phase.Since the wave forms of the tops of the wires are out of phase betweenwires 41 and 42 for example, there will be one or possibly two warpwiserows of loops 59 and 60, each loop in the row being of substantially thesame height. Fig. 14 illustrates two of such warpwise loop rows taken atthe point where the wave form of adjacent wires reverses itself.

In addition to the above effect achieved solely through the differentheight of loops, further interesting eflects are derived when the twowarp yarns 44 and 45 are of highly contrasting colors. Fig. 15 shows afabric woven on the wires described in conjunction with'Fig s. 1-14 inwhich the warp yarn 44 having the high and the medium low loops is of adifferent colorfrom the yarn 45 which has the medium high-and low loops.Since the high loops 49 and53 are both in the same warp yarn, the colorof this yarn will predominate and what is more important, the higherloops tend to'fiatten themselves when the carpet is used because thereis relatively less lateral support for the high loops, so that diamondshapes are quite prominent. When this fabric is viewed from one side,the darker loops denoted generally by D, D are hidden behind theoverlapped lighter loops L, L so that when viewed from the left in Fig.10 and as shown in Fig. 16, only the high loops L, L can be seen. Thisof course, creates the efl'ect that the rug is of a uniform colorcorresponding to that of the lighter pile warps. However, as the angleof vision increases, the loops of darker pile D, D become visible andwhen viewed from the opposite direction the colors are substantiallyevenly balanced, as shown in Fig. 17.

It is to be further noted that the line A, A is taken through a crest onwire 40 but even though the line is taken through a trough on wire 40and the corresponding trough and crests on wires 42, 41 and 43, theidentical sequence of the loops is maintained. In some of the variationsto be described hereinafter, a different sequence of loops is achieved,depending upon the warpwise section of the fabric.

Fig. I1 illustrates diagrammatically a face view of the carpet and showseach loop held perfectly erect and of the same length and width, theonly difference in the loops being their height as shown and previouslydescribed in conjunction with Figs. '12-l4. Actually however,'as soon asthe wires are pulled, the high loops do not stand upright but tend toflatten out (as shown in Fig. 15) and this effect is of course,heightened as the carpet is put into service. This gives the appearanceof wide loops gradually tapering to narrow loops and creates a diamondshape pattern which in effect transfers the undulating shape of the topedges of the wires to the face of the carpet. A primary reason for thisresult resides in the overlap of the loops and the phase relationshipbetween the crests and the troughs so that a lateral support for thehigher loops is absent, thus permitting them to flatten out and enhancethe undulating pattern.

Referring now to Figs. 18-22, an entirely diiferent result can beachieved in a four-wire repeat but having the wires arranged so that thetwo out-of-phase high wires are side-by-side and the two out-of-phaselow wires are side-by-side. Fig. 19 shows the pile yarn woven over a setof eight wires arranged in the sequence 40, 41, 42, and 43, with asimilar repeat of Wires 40a-43a. A

section seen at 19-19 passing through one of the crests on wire 40before the wires are withdrawn from the loops, is shown in Fig. 19.These same loops are shown in Fig. after the wires are pulled and itwill be noted that yarn 60 has both the high and medium high loops,whereas yarn 61 has all the low loops and medium low loops. This is ofcourse, caused by the loop robbing that takes place when the loops wovenin troughs of wires 40, 40a and 42, 42a are first raised and thenlowered, as previously explained. It will thus be apparent that thecolor of yarn 60 will predominate in this area.

However, a section taken through one of the troughs in wire 4t) such as2121 gives a quite different result. Fig. 21 shows the pile yarns 62 and63 woven over the wires before withdrawal and Fig. 22 shows the sameyarns after the wires are withdrawn. In this case however, yarn 63 hasboth the high and medium low loops as before but yarn 62 has only loopsof uniform medium low height. The explanation for this result will beapparent when it is appreciated that in Figs. 19-21 yarns 60 and 63 passover only crests on any wire so that there is no loop drawing whatsoeverof these yarns, Whereas yarns 61 and 62 are always woven over troughs ineach wire, thus these two yarns receive the full loop drawing efiect.

Figs. 20 and 22 illustrate what may be termed maximum conditions takenat the crests and troughs. Intermediate loops will of course, provide ablending in the appearance of the fabric because there will be oneintermediate yarn in which the loops are all of substantially uniformheight, as shown in Fig. 14.

Figs. 23-25 illustrate a different result that can be achieved with thesame eight wires when they are arranged in pairs instead of in thefour-wire repeat described previously. Fig. 23 shows identical wires 41,41a placed side-by-side, then identical wires 43, 43a; 40, 40a and 42,42a. In this case the first four wires are all in phase with each other.A section through the crests of wires 41 and 41a is shown in Fig. 24,with the pile yarns 64 and 65 over the wires. It will be noted that thissequence provides pairs of gradually descending loops from left toright. When the wires are pulled however, the reverse arrangement inloop heights is provided, as shown in Fig. 25, in which the loops ofeach pair are of equal height but the height of the pairs increases fromleft to right. The sequence however, is displaced two shots to theright. In this arrangement, the identical result is achieved if thesection is taken through the troughs of wires 41 and 41a instead of thecrests. The intermediate blending in loop heights is of course, presentin this form also.

Fig. 26 shows the paired wires of Fig. 23 arranged in the followingorder: 40, 40a; 41, 41a; 42, 42a; and 43, 43a. In this case the phaserelationship of each pair alternates. A section taken at 2727 throughthe crests on wires 49 and 40a shows the pile yarns 66 and 67 forming apair of high loops, a pair of medium low loops, 2 pair of medium highloops, and a pair of low loops. When the wires are withdrawn, the heightof each loop is changed (as shown in Fig. 28) so that the first pair ofhigh loops becomes a pair of medium low loops, the second pair of mediumlow loops becomes high loops, the third pair of medium high loopsbecomes low loops, and the fourth pair of low loops becomes medium highloops. It is noteworthy however, that a section such as 2929 through thetroughs of wires 40 and 40a provides a different sequence for the pairsof loops. Fig. 29 shows pile yarns 68 and 69 forming a first pair ofmedium low loops, a second pair of high loops, a third pair of lowloops, and a fourth pair of medium high loops. When the wires arewithdrawn as shown in Fig. 30, these loops are transformed into a firstpair of high loops, a second pair of medium low loops, a third pair ofmedium high loops, and a fourth pair of low loops, thus giving adifierent sequence of loops from that shown in Fig. 28 in the samefabric.

A still further variation using the same wires is shown in Fig. 31, inwhich the wires are arranged in the sequence 42, 42a; 40, 40a; 43, 43a;41, 41a. A section 3232 through the crests of wires 42, 42a shows inFig. 32 the pile yarns 70 and 71 forming a first pair of medium highloops, a second pair of high loops, a third pair of low loops, and afourth pair of medium low loops. Upon withdrawal of the wires, theheight of only the last three pairs of loops is changed to provide afirst pair of medium high loops, a second pair of medium low loops, athird pair of low loops, and a fourth pair of high loops. This sequenceof loops it will be noted, is just the reverse of the final sequenceshown in Fig. 25. However, contrary to the arrangement of Fig. 23, asection 3434 through the troughs of wires 42, 42a provides a totallydifferent sequence. Here the yarns 72 and 73 when woven over the wires,form a first pair of low loops, a second pair or" medium low loops, athird pair of medium high loops, and a fourth pair of high loops (Fig.34). When the wires are withdrawn, the first pair of loops is raised butthen drawn down to remain as low loops, the second pair are high loops,the third pair are medium high loops, and the fourth pair are highloops, so that there are no medium low loops at all.

It will be appreciated that the above examples are intended to beillustrative of the unusual results that can be achieved by specialarrangements of a set of serrated or waved pile wires. By means of ajudicious arrangement of the crests and troughs of the individual wires,the employment of duplicate wires and particularly the weaving of eachpile yarn over alternate wires, it will be appreciated that manydifferent elfects can be achieved using yarn of the same color or ofcontrasting colors. It is particularly noteworthy that with noalteration in the wires or in the loom mechanism, fabrics of totallydifferent appearance can be woven.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A method of weaving pile carpet fabric in a wire loom employing aseries of Wires at least two of which have symmetrical undulatingsinusoidal upper edges provided with crests and troughs thereon, saidcrests and troughs being out of phase on the two wires, which consistsof the steps of arranging the two wires in adjacent relationship in theseries, raising pile warps having given physical characteristics overonly one of said two wires and raising other pile warps havingcontrasting physical characteristics over only the other of said twowires.

2. A method of weaving pile carpet fabric in a Wire loom employing aseries of wires at least two of which have undulating upper edgesprovided with crests and troughs thereon, the crests and troughs of thefirst wire being higher than the respective crests and troughs of thesecond wire, said crests and troughs being aligned warpwise of the loom,which consists of the steps of arranging the two wires in adjacentrelationship in the series, raising pile warps having given physicalcharacteristics over only the first wire, and raising other pile warpshaving contrasting physical characteristics over only the second wire.

3. A method of weaving pile carpet fabric in a wire loom employing atleast two pile wires, one of which has an irregular upper edge of agiven configuration, and the other which has an upper edge similarlyconfigurated to said given configuration but of lesser height,comprising the steps of arranging the two wires in adjacentrelationship, raising pile warps having given characteristics over onlyone of said two wires, and raising other pile warps having contrastingcharacteristics over only the other of said two wires.

4. The method of weaving pile carpet fabric in a wire loom employing aseries of wires arranged in pairs, the first wire of each pair having agiven configuration along its upper edge, and the second wire of saideach pair having a configuration similar to the configuration of thefirst wire but being of lesser height, comprising the steps of arrangingthe pairs of wires in consecutive sequence in a pile wire loom, raisingpile warps having given physical characteristics over only the firstwire of each pair, and raising other pile warps having contrastingphysical characteristics over only the other wire of each pair.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,285,332 Gebert June 2, 1942 8 Dac'ey Nov. 11, 1947 Jackson July 25,1950 Groat Mar. 27, 1951 Jackson Nov. 27, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS BelgiumOct. 26, 1912 Great Britain July 6, 1927 France Apr. 10, 1913

